The May 2025 edition of First Family should now be in your homes. The online version on this website, is viewable, downloadable, and sharable. You can find information on church activities, as well as a photo album of FUMC’s April adventures in this issue. If you want to go back and find something specific, you can also find years of First Family, available in the archives at any time.
The 2025 CHUM Rhubarb Festival is Saturday, June 28 and will be held from 10am-3pm at Asbury United Methodist Church (6822 Grand Avenue, Duluth). Volunteers to help with the Coppertop’s contribution of 200 strawberry rhubarb pies to the bake sale. This is the 20th anniversary of this major community and fundraising event for CHUM, and there are many opportunities to help. For additional information, see page 10 of the May issue of First Family. Please contact Anita Zager and let her know what you can to do and when.
Wednesday, May 7 – 10am-3pm. We’ll be making and rolling pie dough to freeze. 200 strawberry rhubarb pies = 400 crusts! Please sign up for an hour, a half day, or all day – whatever works for you. Invite a friend! If you have a rolling pin, please bring it with you.
June Schedule
Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays – drop off fresh rhubarb in the kitchen.
Every Tuesday – 1 – 4pm. Chopping rhubarb and prepping strawberries. We can schedule an evening prep session if you have 4 people who’d like to volunteer. Contact Anita Zager.
Every Wednesday – 9:30am – 3pm. Assembling pies, wrapping and freezing.
Festival Week: June 23-27
Look for the kitchen schedule in the June issue of First Family. We’ll be making, baking, and boxing pies, coffee cakes, and crisps.
Seven Minnesota United Methodists who feel called to environmental justice and creation care were recently commissioned as Earthkeepers and have begun working on projects to transform their communities and the world. FUMC’s Naomi Yaeger shared this about her project.
The average plastic bag is used for 12 minutes just one time. This is one of many pieces of trivia that Yaeger knows firsthand, and reducing waste is an issue she feels strongly about.
Years ago, she was on the national United Methodist Women Green Team and gave talks in churches. Then in 2010, she planned a no-waste graduation party for her daughter and a no-waste family reunion for 75 people.
But it was while serving on the sustainability committee for Duluth’s annual Rhubarb Festival last summer that she came to an important realization: “I found that most people don’t know the difference between compost, recyclables, and waste—and I really enjoyed teaching people about it,” said Yaeger, a member of First UMC in Duluth. “I thought, ‘This is probably a ministry for me.’”
Yaeger’s project will involve teaching groups in her area how to have zero-waste events. Her motto: “Duluth doesn’t do it dirty.”
“God created the earth and all the plants and animals,” she said. “It’s everything on earth we need to protect.”